Let Lucy Dacus Take The Wheel

If you have heard the album you know how great a voice she has and what a great singer-songwriter she is.

So, why not ask her to take the wheel, as WUNC did, to curate some of the songs by other artists that she loved this year.

Cthulhu, a Peter Buck interview, and some R.E.M. Love

Despite my fear that Michael Stipe's beard is a manifestation of the return of Cthulhu, I still love R.E.M. One of my monthly tribute playlists was THIS collection of R.E.M. songs and I have also written of my love for R.E.M.'s album Reckoning.

Well, anyway, all that said, here is a cool interview conducted by Salon.com with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck about the anniversary re-release of Out of Time.

The Most Uncanny Part of Rogue One

Spoiler Alert, if you haven't seen the Star Wars Rogue One movie yet, stop reading now.

I saw Rogue One last night and mostly loved it (because I am a Star Wars O.G, I saw "A New Hope" 13 times in the theater in Chattanooga as a kid in 1977), but one thing was a bit too "uncanny valley" for me...Throughout the movie, very strange CGI faces (and bodies) of important historical Star Wars characters made appearances (Grand Moff Tarkin, Princess Leia). I found the effect very disquieting.

For me, I guess, you can't go home again, at least not with CGI facial construction.

My only other complaint is that having Darth Vader go full on old-school Jedi (every Jedi trick from the prequels from force push to deflections) mere hours before "A New Hope" is about to start is a bit odd (and sloppy IMHO).

The fan theory has always been that in the time between the Clone Wars and "A New Hope" Sith powers and Jedi powers grew weaker because there were no battles between adversaries with force powers. Seems bizarre for Vader to have all the high-tech mere moments before he has much more toned down (but still awesome) powers in the original movie.

Those are small criticisms, I loved the movie.

And yes, I know this is not about music....apologies.

Wrapping Up

Okay, hope that was enjoyable for you, I always enjoy talking about R.E.M., I am a Star Wars lifer, and I really love that Lucy Dacus album.